Dolphins coaches, players share burden of reviving 2013 draft class

Each side has work to do in this pivotal season

INDIANAPOLIS – The four players the Dolphins selected in the first three rounds of the 2013 draft – defensive end Dion Jordan, cornerbacks Jamar Taylor and Will Davis, and guard/tackle Dallas Thomas – played far below expectations as rookies.

More to the point, they hardly played.

Getting them on the field and making them productive will be one of the biggest joint ventures of the 2014 season between coaches and players.

The coaches have to figure out a way to best utilize Jordan, the No. 3 pick of the draft; Taylor, Davis and Thomas have to figure out a way to convince coaches their talent can be utilized.

Each side, coaches and players, has something to prove. And if that doesn’t happen this season the two-year review of the top half of the 2013 draft would be, well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be good.

The angular Jordan was used mostly in pass rushing situations (he ended the season with two sacks) although he also dropped back in pass coverage more late in the season. But he had very little impact.

Bucky Brooks, analyst for NFL Network, said the Dolphins coaches have to come up with a way to make Jordan a factor.

“When you think about Dion Jordan,” Brooks said, “the bigger issue is, ‘What are we going to do on defense, and how can we get him in?’ “

At times Jordan looks like a 4-3 defensive end, which is what he plays in the Dolphins’ scheme, and at times he looks like a 3-4 outside linebacker. Regardless, coaches have find a way to maximize his talent.

“If he’s a 4-3 end he has to be a quick end, a guy who plays on the open side,” Brooks said. “If you think about how Seattle plays, they always have their athletic guy away from the tight end. Maybe Dion Jordan can be that guy.

“If not, he’s 3-4 outside linebacker and then you have to figure out, ‘What do I want to do?’ You have Cameron Wake on the other side who needs to come after the quarterback. So that now means Dion Jordan has to be in space more.

“It’s really trying to find a way to put him on the field. And maybe it’s packaging. Maybe he’s your designated pass rusher in nickel situations. But a good coaching staff will find a way to maximize their talent.”

Thomas, the third-round pick from Tennessee, was only active for two games last season, a year in which the Dolphins desperately needed offensive line help. The Dolphins have holes everywhere except center. Thomas mostly played guard but started the season as a tackle.

The Dolphins won’t enter free agency or the draft thinking Thomas could be a starter, but considering he’s a third-round pick he needs to show the coaches he could be a starter.

As for Taylor, the second-round pick from Boise State, and Davis, the third-round pick from Utah State, it’s also on them.

They have to stay healthy and then show coaches they can be playmakers. Taylor played in nine games, mostly on special teams, and ended with three tackles. Davis played in five games and ended with eight tackles.

It’ll be interesting to see how general manager Dennis Hickey approaches the cornerback position in free agency and the draft.

Hickey, who has been on the job a little more than three weeks, has done his homework. He’s already watched tape on Taylor and Davis, and he’s talked to the coaches.

“Then you have to weigh what Will Davis and Jamar Taylor are versus the guys that they could potentially get in this (draft and free agency) class,” Brooks said. “And if the guys in this class are viewed as better players you take those guys, you bring them into training camp and let them duke it out and see who becomes the starter or the nickel.”

If coaches and players work together, Jordan, Taylor, Davis and Thomas could become a collective success story of the 2013 draft.

If not, the term “disappointment” might be an understatement to describe those picks.